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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

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CIHIVI/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


\ 


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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/IMotes  techniques  «t  bibliographiques 


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D 


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Cover  title  missing/ 

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Bound  with  other  material/ 
RaiiA  avec  d'autres  documents 


n 


n 


D 


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L'lristitut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
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sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 


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Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
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pplementaire 


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n 


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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 
Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu*  ci-dessous. 
lOX  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


12X 


30X 


16X 


7 


20X 


24X 


28X 


n 

32X 


re 

l^tails 
as  du 
nodifier 
)r  une 
ilmage 


IS 


rrata 
to 


pelure. 
1  a 


3 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  her«  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Legislature  du  QuAboc 
Quebec 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possibte  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  Impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  t[iie  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  —^(meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

IVMaps.  plates,  charts,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  filmA  fut  reproduit  grAce  d  la 
g^nirositA  de: 

Legislature  du  Quebec 
Quebec 

Lee  images  suivartes  ont  «t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  cumpte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettet*  de  l'exemplaire  fiim«,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fllmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim^e  sont  filmte  en  commen9ant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  fllmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  teiie 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
dernlAre  image  de  cheque  microflch<*i,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  —*•  signifle  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  V  signifle  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmis  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diff«rents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  11  est  film«  «  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  it  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  ie  nombre 
d'images  nteessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
lllustrent  la  mithodo. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

THB  WBALE  FISnBBY,  AND  AMEEIOAN  COM.MERCE  IN  THE  PACIFIC  OCBAN. 


SPEECH  OF  WILLIAM  fl.  SEWARD. 

IN  THE  SENATE  OF  TFIE  UNITED  STATES,  - 


JULY  29,   1852. 


In  Senate,  July  29,  1852. 
A  bill  reporlad  by  Mr.  Seward,  from  the 
Committoo  on  Commerce,  '".r  a  survey  and  re- 
connoissanoe  of  Bherings  Straits,  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  and  the  courses  of  trade  between  Amer- 
ica and  China,  was  read. 

Mr.  SEWARD  rose  and  said: 

Mr.  President:  Some  years  ago,  when  as- 
cending the  Aia))ama,  I  saw  a  stag  plunge  into 
the  river,  and  gallantly  gain  the  western  bank, 
while  the  desponding  sportsman  whose  rifle  he 
had  escaped,  sat  down  to  mourn  his  ill  luck 
under  the  deop  magnolia  forest  that  shaded  i 
the  eastern  shore.     Vou.  sir,  arc  a  dweller  in  ' 
that  region,  and  are.  as  all  the  world  knows,  \ 
a  gentleman  of  cultivated  taste  and  liberal  for- 
tunes.   Perliaps,  then,  you  may  have  been  that  j 
unfortunate  hunter.  Howsoever  that  may  have  ! 
l)een,  I  wish  to  converse  with  you  now  of  the  \ 
chase,  and  yet  not  of  d«^er,  or  hawk,  or  hound,  '■ 
but  of  a  chase  upon  the  seas :  and  still  not  of 
angling  or  trolling,  nor  of  the  busy  toil  of  those 
worthy  fishermen  who  seem  likely  to  embroil 
us,  certainly  without  reluctance  on  our  part,  in 
a  controversy  about  their  rights  in  the  Bay  of 
Fundy,  but  of  a  nobler  sport  und  more  adven- 
turous sportsmen  than  Izaak  Walton,  or  Dan- 
iel Boone,  or  even  Nimrod,  the  mightiest  as  well 
as  most  ancient  of  hunters,  ever  dreamed  of — 
the    base  of  the  whale  over  his  broad  range 
of  tiie  univorsal  ocean. 

Do  not  ha.>tily  pronounce  the  subject  out  of 
order  or  unprolitable.  or  utiworthy  ot  this  high 
presence.  The  Pliamicians.  the  earliest  mer- 
cantile nation  known  to  wt.  enriched  themselves 
by  selling  the  celebrated  Tyrian  dye,  and  glass 
made  of  sand  taken  tVom  the  sea ;  and  they 
(iCcpiired  not  only  those  sounuis  of  wealth,  but 
*he  art  of  navigation  itself,  in  the  practice  of 


I  their  humble  calling  as  fishermen.  A  thousand 
years  ago.  King  Alfred  was  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  empire  for  Young  England,  as  we  are 
now  doing  for  Y^tmg  America.  The  monarch 
whom  men  justly  have  surnamed  the  Wise  as 
well  as  the  Great,  did  not  disdain  to  listen  to 
Octher,  who  related  the  adventures  of  a  voyage 
along  the  coast  of  Norway,  "so  far  north  as 
commonly  the  whale  hunters  used  to  travel ;  " 
nor  was  the  stranger  suffered  to  depart  until 
he  had  submitted  to  the  King  "a most  just  sur- 
vey and  description  '  of  the  Northern  Seas,  not 
only  as  they  extended  upwards  to  the  North 
Cape,  but  also  as  they  declined  downwards 
along  the  southeast  coast  of  Lapland,  and  so 
following  the  icy  beach  of  Russia  to  where  the 
river  Dwina  discharged  its  waters  into  the 
White  Sea,  or,  as  it  was  then  called,  the  Sea  of 
Archangel.  Perhaps  my  poor  speech  may  end 
in  some  similar  lesson.  The  incident  I  have 
related  is  the  burthen  of  the  earliest  historiciU 
notice  of  the  subjugation  of  the  monster  of  the 
seas  to  the  uses  of  man.  The  fishery  was  car- 
ried on  then,  and  near  six  hundred  years  after- 
wards, by  the  Basques.  Biscayans,  and  Norwe- 
gians, for  the  food  yielded  by  the  tongue,  and 
the  oil  obtained  from  the  fat  of  the  animal. 
Whalebone  entered  into  commerce  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  and  at  first  commanded  the 
enormous  price  of  seven  hundred  [lounds  ster- 
ling per  ton,  exceeding  a  value  in  this  age  of 
ten  thousand  dollars.  Those  were  merry  times, 
if  not  for  science,  at  least  for  Royalty,  when, 
although  the  material  for  stays  and  hoops  was 
taken  from  the  mouth,  the  law  appropriated 
the  tail  of  every  whale  taken  bv  in  English 
subject  to  the  use  of  the  Queen,  for  the  supply 
of  the  Royal  wardrobe. 

In  1486  the  Portuguese  reaohod  the  Cape  of 
Storms,  and.  in  happy  augury  of  an  ultimate 
passage  to  India,  changed  its  ill-omened  name 


BuELL  &  Blanchard,  Printers,  Wastiington,  D.  C. 


^^Rf' 


;     I' 


to  that  of  "Good    Hope;  '  and  imnipdiatcly  | 
thereafter  the  Northern  StutCH  of  Europe,  ea^ic- 
cially  Kngltind  iind  HoUtmd,  lieRiin  that  scries 
of  voyapeg,  not  even  yet  ended,  in  searoh  ol  a 
passage  to  the  Kant  through  the  tloutmg  tields 
and  nioiintfiins  of  ice  in  the  Aretie  (>i:enn.    1  u- 
unfuccessfiil  search  diseioped  tlie  relnge  ot  the 
whales  in  the  hays  and  creeks  of  Spit/liergm. 
In  1575  a  London  merchant  wrote  to  a  foreign 
correspondent  for  advice  and  direction   as  to 
the  course  of  kiUing  the  whale,  and  receiyei 
instructions  how  to  huild  and  e((inp  iv  vessel  ot 
two  hundred   tons,   and  to  man  it  e.xchisiyelv 
with  experienced  whiile  hunters  ot  Hiscay.    Hie 
attraction  of  dominion  was  stronger  in  that  age 
than    the   lost   of  profit.     The    Kngli>h   now 
claimed  Sj.itzbergen.   and  all  its  surrounding 
ice  and  waters,  hy  discovery.   The  nutcli.  with 
truth,  alleged  an  earlier  exploration,  wliile  the 
Danes  claimed   the  wholf  region  as  a  ^'art  ot 
Greenland — n  ,iretensioii  that  could  not  then  lie 
disproved  ;    and  'all   tlies<'  parties  sent  armed 
forces  upon  the  fishing  ground,  less  to  jiroH-ct 
their  few  lishermcn,  than  to  establish  exclusive 
rights  there.     After  some  fifty  years,  these  na- 
tions discovered,  first,   that  it  was  aliMird  to 
claim  jurisdiction  where  no  nernianent  posses- 
mon  could  ever  he  estahlished.  by  reason    i  the 
rigors  of  climate;  and   n-condly.  that   there 
were   fish   enough   and  room  enough  for   all 
competitors.     Thenceforward,  the  whale  fish- 
ery in  the  Arctic  OceaBrhas  been  free  to  all 
nations. 

The  Dutch  perfected  the  harpoon,  the  reel. 
the  line,  and  the  spear,  as  well  as  the  art  ot 
using  tlK'iu.     And   they  established,  <-lso,  the 
system  which  we  have  since  found  indis^.ensa- 
ble,  of  rewarding  all  the  officers  and  crews  em- 
ployed in  the  fishery,  not  with  direct  wages  or 
salaries,   but  with  sjiaies   in   the  spoils  ol  the 
game,  proportioned  to   skill    and    exiienence. 
Combining  with  these  the  advantages   of  fa- 
vorable po.^i.ion,  and  of  frugality  and  per.'^e\e- 
ranee  quite  proverbial,  the  Uutcheven  founded 
a  fishing  settlement  called  Snieerenburiih.  on 
the  coast  of  Spitsbergen,  within  eh^ven  degrees 
of  the  North  Pole,  and  they  took  whales  in  it- 
viciiiity  in  such    abundance   that    ships  witc 
needed  to  go  out  in  ballast,  to  carry  liome  tlie 
surplus  oil  and  bone  above  the  capacity  ol  the 
whaling  vessels.     The  whales,  thus  vigorously 


lice. 


attacked,  again  changed  tlie'.r  lurking  pi 
Spit/.bergeii  was  abandoned  by  the  ti-heinien, 
and  the  very  s'.te  of  Smcerenburgh  is  now  un- 
known. In  the  year  14!t().  Sebastian  Cabot,  in 
the  spirit  of  that  age,  seeking  a  northwestern 
passage  to  the  Indies,  gave  to  the  world  the 
discovery  of  Prima  Vista,  or,  msw.  call  it.  New- 
foundland, and  the  Basques  IJiscayans.  Dutch, 
and  English,  immediately  thereafter  commene- 
ed  the  cluu-^e  for  wluiles  in  the  waters  surround- 
ing it. 

Scarcely  had  the  colonists  of  Maftsacliusetts 
planted  themselves   at    Plymouth,  before   the 


sterility  of  the  soil  and  the  rigor  of  the  climate- 
forced  them  to  resort  t(t  the  sea  to  eke  out  their 
subsistence.     Pursuing   the  whales   out   from 
their  own  hays,  in  vessels  of  only  forty  tons 
burthen,  they  appeared  on  the  fishing  ground 
otl"  Newfoundland  in  the  year  1(>!)0.     Profiting 
by  nearness  of  ]i08ition  and  economy  in  build- 
ing and  eqiiipjiing  shij.-,  and  sharing  also  in 
the   b(ainties  with   which   Kngland  was  then 
stimulating  the  whale  fishery,  they  soon  excel- 
led all  their  rivals  on  the  Newfoundland  wa- 
ters, as  well  as  in  Hafhns  Bay  and  ofTthecoat»t 
of  (Jreenland.     Thus   encouraged,   they   ran 
'  down  the  coasts  of  America  and  Africa,  and  in 
the  waters  rolling  between  them  they  discover- 
ed the  black  whale,  a  new  and  inferior  species, 
vet  worth  V  of  capture  :  and  then  stretching  off 
toward  the  South  Pole,  tin  y  found  still  another     . 
species,  tlie  sperm  whale,  vxhose  oil  is  still  pre- 
ferred above  all  other;  and  thus  they  enlarged 
the  whale  fishery  fi  •  the  benefit  of  the  world, 
which  since  that  time  ha>  distinguished  the  two 
branches  of  that  enterprise  geogvayiblcally  by 
the  designation  of  the  Northern  and  Soutiiern 
fisheries.    In  177rj  the  fisheries  were  carried  on 
by  the  Americans,  the  Knglish.  the  Dutch,  and 
the   French.     The    Frei.ch    employed    (miy  a 
small  fleet,  the  Dutch  a  larger  one  of  129  sad. 
The    Knglish    had    only  96   ships,    while    the 
Americans  had   I'M  vessels  in    the    Scaithcin 
fishery,  and  177  in  the  Northern  fishery,  man- 
ned with  4.ono  perscms.  and  bringing  in  oil  and 
whalel)one  of  the  value  of  Sl.l  11.000,     Th,s 
precociousncssot  American  nautical  enterprise 
elicited  from  Burke,  in  his  great  sjK;cch  for  con- 
ciliation to  die  colonies,  a  tribute  famihar  to 
our  countrymen,  and  perhaps  the  most  glowing 
passage  that  even  that  great  orator  ever  wrot« 
or  spoke : 

•■  L(.(,k  at  the  innTinor  in  which  thu  jioople  of  New 

EiislHiia   have  ef  Into  rnnie.l  on  Ihu  whHlc  firthcry. 

Whi^t   we   fullew  them  iiinong  tho   tiimhluij;  uinun- 

liiiiis   of  iee.  ami   \h-\wH   them   iHiietratin);  into  the 

aoepest  rcetspi?  of  Hiulsen  s  li:iy  and  Davi;.  s  Straitc, 

whim   w«'  fin  Inokins:  tor  them  licncath  the  Aret:' 

circle,  wo  hoar  Ihiit  tlev  have  pierced  into  the  oppo 

file  region  of  I'olar  col.i— thiit  tliey  are  at  the  .Antip 

odes   ami  enKat;cd  nnder  the  iVo/.eu-jeipeiif   of  the 

I  .<onth      Falkland  l.<lund.  whi.h  seemed  too  n  moto 

:  and  romantic  an  ol.ject  lor  ihe  <;r:i?p  ol  national  ain- 

'  hition   is  hut  a  st,n(»e  and  reslinjs  place  m  the  proRrcss 

of  their  viitorious  industrv.     Nor  is  tho  l<:.iuatorial 

'  heat  more  discoura^iiit;  to  them  than  the  ucrumuln- 

;  ted  winter  of  both  the  I'olc^     We  know  that  whiis. 

'  -ome   of  Ihtin  draw  the  line  and  striKe  the  ti.-iriioon 

'  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  others  -un  thr  looKitudi;-  ','"" 

■  pursue  their  ps:antle  name  ulonc  the  coast  ot  I.rn- 
I  /.il      No  ocean  tint  what  is  ve.xed  with  their  ti^herie?, 

n..  climate  that  i.s  not  «  itncss  to  iheu-  toils,     .Neither 

the   pcrHevcran.-e   ol    Ilol.and,    imr    the   activity   el 

I  France,  tior  the  tlexteruus  and  firm  sa;;aciiy  oi  hiig- 

;  lish   enterprise,   ever  carried  this   penliuis   mode  ol 

I  hardy  enterprise  to  tho  extent  to  whi.  h  it  has  been 

■  nusircd  hv  this  rc'cnt  |,eoplo-tt  people  who  are  .sti  I, 
Ls  It  were,  iu  the  (;ristle,  and  not  yet  hardened  iB.o 
the  bone  of  manhood.  ' 

But  Britain  did  not  conciliate.     Tl.e  Ileyolii- 
tion  went  on,  and  the  American  whule  fasliery 


)f  tlio  clininte 
i  eko  out  thoir 
l(»s  out  from 
dly  forty  tonn 
isliinji  ground 
[)0.  Profiting 
omy  in  build- 
iiiriiig  also  in 
iiul  wiiH  tln^n 
ley  Kooii  I'xcel- 
foundlnnd  wa- 
d  off  tlir  coiiKt 
;ed,  thoy  run 
Africa,  and  in 

they  dincovcr- 
nl'erior  s^'ecics, 
1  Ktrotc'liinf;  off 
d  still  imothcr  , 
oil  iw  Ktill  I'rc- 
<  tlicy  ('nlar(r*'d 
;  of  thft  world, 
'wished  the  two 
gvnyililcally  hy 
1  and  Southern 
vere  cavrird  (>n 
the  Dutch,  and 
ployed  only  a 
one  of  129  wi  1. 
ijis.    while    the 

the  Southern 
n  tisliery,  luiiii- 
ngingin  oil  and 
,111,000.  This 
itical  enterpriiMi 
!;  sp<;ceh  for  con- 
)ute  familiar  to 
le  most  glowing 
rator  ever  wrot« 

ho  people  of  New 
the  wliHlo  finhery. 
J   tiimtiliiiv;  uiDun- 
iictriifiii;,'  into  the 
nd  l)iivis'.'?  Straits, 
K'liciith  tlif  Arctic 
■ct'd  into  the  fiipo 
y  arc  nl  the  ■^ntip- 
eu'scriient   of  the 
loiiuhI  too  romc.to 
tsp  ot  nationul  aiii- 
laoi'in  th(!  iirop;r('i<s 
ir  is  the  K'juatorial 
hiiu  ihe  lii-i  iiiiiuln- 
(•  know  thiit  whiUt 
strii<e  till'  iinriioon 
til.-  loiij;itiuU'.  ami 
a  till'  ruuft  <'{  r.rn- 
willi  tlicir  li^hcrie?, 
lieir  toil.".     Nuiihcr 
iir    the-   activity   ot 
111  safiiU'iiy  of  I'J'ifJ- 
■t  poriloiis  mode  ot 
,  wlii'  h  it  ha.«  been 
)eople  who  are  .still, 
yet   harduiied  icto 

ite.    'I'he  Ilevolu- 
can  whale  fishery 


3 

perished,  leaving  not  one  vossel  on  either  fish- 
ing ground. 

Vet  it  is  curious,  Mr.  President,  to  mark  the 
«liuitieity  of  our  counlrymm  in  this  their  fa- 
vorite enterprise.  A  provisional  treaty  of  peace 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
was  coneludiMl  on  the  30th  of  Novemher,  1782. 
'■Oil  the  .Sd  oi  F.iliniary.  17!^3.''  (I  read  from 
an  F.nglish  paper  of  ihat  period.)  'the  ship 
Ui'dfotd,  Captain  Aloores,  hidongin;.;  to  Massa- 
chusetts, arrived  in  the  Dowm.  She  passed 
Oiravesend  on  the  4111,  and  on  tlie  (itli  was  re- 
porti.'d  at  th(!  eustoni-houHe  in  London.  She 
■was  not  allowed  regular  trntry  until  after  some 
■consultation  hetwcen  the  commissit/ners  of  cus- 
toms and  the  Lords  of  the  Cuuncil.  on  account 
of  the  nuiny  acts  -of  Parliament  yet  in  force 
aj;ainst  the  reliels  of  Aiu^'ica.  She  was  load- 
ed with  .187  barrels  of  whale  oil,  and  manned 
wholly  with.  American  seammi,  and  belonged 
to  the'islarm  of  Nantucket.  The  vessel  lay  at 
the  Horsley- Downs,  a  little  })elow  the  Tower, 
.and  was  the  first  which  displayed  the  thirteen 
stripas  of  America  in  any  British  port." 

Nevertheless,  the  lost  vantage   ground  was 
not  easily  nor  speedily  regained.     The  effort 
was  made  without  protection,  against  exclusion 
In  foreign  markets,  and  against  boimties   by  I 
the    Euglisli   Government  equivalent  to  forty  1 
dollars  per  man  employed,  or  .sixty  per  cent,  on 
the   \alue  of  every  cargo  obtained — bounties  , 
not  occasionally  nor    irregularly  offered,  but  ! 
continued  from  1750  to  1824,  and  amountingin  '■ 
the  aggregate  to  three  miUiims  of  pounds  ster- 
ling.    Kor  was  this  all.     These  bounties,  en-  j 
hanced  with   additional  inducements,  were  of-  i 
fered  to  the  Nantucket  fishermen,  on  condition  i 
of  their  abandoning  their  country  tind  beeom-  i 
ing  inhabitants  of  th.'  adjacent  British  Colo-  j 
nie.'J,  or  of  the  Briti.sh  Islands.     It  seemed,  in-  i 
■deed,  that  a  cri.sis  in  this  gn«at  national  inter-  j 
est   had   ctmic.      Happily    there  was,  on   the  j 
French    side    of  the    Channel,    at   least,    one 
unwearied  fi  lend  of  .Vinerica,  as  there  were 
many  watchful  enemies  of  Kngland.     Laftiy- 
ctte   wrote  sevoriil    letters  to  Boston   and  :ir- 
resteil  :'n  inimigrtition  from  Nantucket  to  the 
British   Colonies  tiud   Islands  already  on   the 
«ve  of  embarkation,  and  then  addressed  him- 
self to  the    Frencli    monarch   and  his  Court. 
France  saw  at  once  the  dangers  of  a  transfer 
of  so  great  a  number  of  seamen,  together  with 
the  very  .secret,  tirtand  mystery  of  whale  hunt- 
ing, to  her   hereditary   and  relcntle^'S  enemy. 
The  good  l)Ut  ill-fated  Liuiis  XVI  enuipped  six 
-whaling  vessels,  with  American  harpooners,  tm 
his  own  aci.'oiint,  and  offered  a  bounty  of  nine 
doli.irs  per  man.  payable  by  the  Royal  Treas- 
ury, to  every  American  fisherman  who  should 
emigrate  to  France.     In  a  whole  year,   only 
nine  families,  containing  thirtv-three  persons, 
accepted  this  offer;  and  therefore  the  King,  in 
compliance  with  Lafayette's  fir.-t  adyico.  adopt- 
ed the  e.spedient  of  di'scrimlnuting  in  favor  of 


American  cargoes  of  oil  and  whivlebone  in  the 
French  market.  The  Araericsui  whale  fishery 
began  to  revive,  and  in  1787,  1788,  and  1789, 
it  employed  an  average  of  122  vessels.  But  it 
still  labored  under  the  pre.ssure  of  competition, 
stimulated  by  bounties  both  in  England  and 
in  Franco.  In  17!>0.  the  Great  and  General 
Council  of  Massachusetts  appealed  to  Con- 
gress for  protection  to  this  great  interest  of 
that  Commonwealth.  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  Sec- 
retary of  State,  submitted  ati  elaliorate  reply, 
which,  while  it  was  liberal  in  its  spirit,  never- 
thidess  closed  with  the  declaratitm,  that  •'  the 
whale  fishery  was  a  branch  of  industry  so  poor 
as  to  come  to  nothing  with  distant  nations  who 
did  not  sup])ort  it  from  theii  treasuries — that 
our  position  iilaced  our  fishing  on  ground 
somewhat  higher,  such  tis  to  relieve  tlio  Na- 
tional Treasury  from  giving  it  support,  but  not 
to  permit  it  to  derive  support  from  the  fishery, 
nor  to  relieve  the  Government  from  the  obliga- 
tion to  provide  free  markets  for  the  productions 
of  the  fishery,  if  possible." 

The  enterprise  had  not  yet  languished  into 
life,  when  the  French  llevolution  of  1789  oc- 
curred, which  involved  Europe,  and  ultimately 
the  United  States,  in  wars  that  swept  the  lat- 
ter, as  well  as  the  French  and  Dutch,  from  all 
the  fisheries,  and  left  thci  i  in  the  exclusive  en- 
joyment of  Britain,  who  achieved  in  those  wara 
iter  now  established  pre-eminence  as  the  con- 
(luerer  of  the  seas.  At  their  close-  the  British 
had  146  vessels  in  the  Northern  whaling 
ground,  which  captured  no  less  than  733 
whales,  and  thus  obtained  13,590  tons  of  oil 
i\nd  438  tons  of  whalebone:  and  fifty-six  ships 
in  the  Southern  whale  fishery  equally  suc- 
co.ssfiil.  The  Amoricivns  now  re-entered  the 
game,  and  the  tables  were  speedily-  and,  as 
we  think,  permanently — turned  in  their  favor. 
In  1824.  the  Pritish  became  discouraged,  and 
withdrew  their  bounties;  and  in  1842  they  had 
no  more  than  18  ve.s.-^els  in  the  North  fishery, 
which  captured  only  24  whales.  The  Southern 
fishery  declined  still  more  rapidly :  so  that,  in 
1845,  not  one  British  whaler  ajipeiued  in  the 
South  Seas,  Since  that  time,  all  nations  have 
virtually  abandoned  this  "hardy  form  of  peril- 
ous enterprise  "  in  favor  of  the  Americans.  The 
entire  whaling  Heet  of  the  world,  in  1847,  con- 
sisted of  about  900  vessels,  40  of  which  belonged 
to  France.  20  to  Bremen  and  other  ports  in 
Northern  Europe,  20  to  New  Holland  and  other 
British  Polynesian  Colonics,  and  all  others,^ 
more  than  800  in  number,  with  a  tonnage  of 
240,000  t.iiis.  belonged  to  the  United  States. 
The  capital  thus  employed  exceeded  twenty 
millions  of  dollars,  and  the  annual  productions 
of  the  fisheries  amounted  to  thirteen  millions  of 
dollars,  \Vitli  the  decline  of  this  enterprise  in 
Great  Britain,  her  commercial  writers  began  to 
discountenance  whale  fishing  altogether:  and 
while  they  now  represent  it  as  a  mere  gam- 
bling adventure,  they  endeavor  to  stimulate  the 


m-m  '-  ',u#"-i'*'J': 


tBKM 


people  of  Continental  F^urof*  to  substitute  vego- i  pnvont  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  from  their 
table  oils  for  thoee  procured  in  the  seas.  destined  meeting  with  the  tides  of  the  owiyn. 

Mr.  J'reHident :  Pray  consider  the  cost,  time, 
dangorH,  and  hazard  of  the  whale  fishery.  F,ai;h 
T0B««^1  with  its  outfit  is  worth  »30.0()(t.  niid  car- 
ries thirty  uhlc-bodicd  wanuii,  and  is  afloat  on 
a  single  voyage  one  or  two.  perhaps  three  years. 
It  finds  the  whale  nowhere  below  the  sixtieth 
degree  of  latitude,  and  can  renuiin  there  only 
duringthebrief  Polar  summer  of  throe  mouths.  ^ 

The  whole  time  nmy  elap^'e  without  a  whale     to  Freetown,  Fahuouth.  Sippiean.  Wai 
being  seen.     When  discovered,  every  stage  of'  Plymouth,  Holmes'  Hole.  Fall  Kiver.  Pr 


being  •■  , 

his  capture  is  toilsome,  and  attended  with  mul- 
tiplied dangers  to  the  assailants,  increased  by 
the  shoals,  the  ice,  the  storms,  and  the  fogs. 
•which  protect  the  animal  against  bis  pursuers. 
The  statistics  are  absolutely  frightful  to  a 
landsman  or  a  common  seanum.  In  181!>.  of 
sixty-three  British  ships  sent  to  Davis's  Straits, 
ten  were  lot  In  1821.  out  of  sixty-ninu,  eleven 
were  lost.  Of  eighty-seven  ships  that  sailed  for 
Pavis's  Straits  in  1830.  no  less  than  eighteen 
wore  lost  twenty-four  returned  cleau,  while  not  j 
one  of  the  remainder  had  a  full  cargo,  and  only 
one  or  two  half  fished.  \ 

Pray  consider  now.  sir.  that  the  great  triumph 
of  the  American  lishcrmen  was  achieved,  and 
is  still  sustained,  not  (mly  without  aid  from  the 
Government,  bnt  practically  also  without  aid 
from  the  capital  or  enterprise  t)f  general  com- 
merce, and.  indeed,  to  (luote  the  nervous  lan- 
guage of  Jefferson,  -with  no  auxiliaries  but 
poverty  and  rigorous  econcmiy."  The  whaling 
fleet  Df  the  United  State>.  in '1846.  consisted  of 
seven  hundred  and  thirty-seven  vessels.  Of  the 
thirty  States,  only  five.  Sew  Hampshire.  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  New 
York,  were  represented;  and  all  of  them  except 
New  York  are  the  States  least  blessed  in  fertil- 
ity and  climate.  New  Hampshire,  having  only 
a  single  port,  sent  out  only  one  vessel.  Rhode 
Island,  one  of  the  three  most  diminutive  States, 
equipped  tifty-two.  Connecticut,  a  small  State, 
sent  out  one  hundred  and  twenty-four.  New 
York,  with  her  extended  territory,  vast  wealth, 
and  stupendous  commercial  establishments,  sent 
only  eighty-five  :  an<l  all  the  rest  jirocceded  from 
that  State,  inferior  to  many  others  in  extent, 
wealth,  and  commerce,  but  superior  to  them  all 
in  intellectual  and  social  development— Mass^ 
chusetts. 


All  the  others  were  sent  forth  from  New  Suffolk, 
(ireenjMirt.  and  Sag  Harbor,  inconsiderable  vil- 
lages or  hamlets  on  the  outward  coast  of  Long 
Nland.  Massachusetts  exhibits  the  same  case. 
Boston  finds  more  lucrative  employment  for  her 
capital  in  spindles,  in  railroads,  ami  even  in  her 
fields  of  ice  and  ((oarries  of  granite:  and  so 
leaves  the  profits  and  toils  of  the  whale  fishery 
""  '"  "         -      ■•     •  Wareham, 

ovince- 


town.  Fairbaven.  New  Bedford,  and  Nantucket, 
towns  which  l)ut  for  their  pursuit  of  the  whale 
fishery  would  scarcely  have  been  honored  with 
designation  on  the  chart  or  names  in  the 
gazetteer.  Most  wondrous  of  all,  Nantucket  is 
a  sandy  island,  fifteen  miles  long  and  three 
miles  broa<l,  capable  of  nuiintaining  by  agri- 
culture only  one  hundred  fiersons.  and  yet  it  was 
the  cradle  of  the  whale  fishery  :  and  neither 
any  town  in  America,  nor  in  Kngland,  nor  even 
in  France,  has  ever  successfully  estafilished  or 
at  all  maintained  the  whale  fishery,  without 
drawing,  not  merely  its  knowledge  of  whale- 
nunting,  but  the  ofiicers  and  crews  of  its  vessels, 
chiefly  from  that  sandy  shoal  thus  rising  above 
the  surface  of  the  sea. 

Need  I  dwell  here  on  the  whale  fishery  as 
a  source  of  national  wealth  and  an  element  of 
national  force  and  strength.'  The  number  of 
those  who  are  actively  afloat  in  the  pursuit 
ranges  from  l.'"),000  to  20.000.  while  twenty 
times  that  greatest  number  of  persons  are  in- 
directly engaged  in  the  culture  of  hemp  and 
the  manufacture  of  cordage,  the  building  of 
ships,  furnishing  their  sujiplies,  manufacturing 
and  preparing  the  oil  and  whalebone,  in  send- 
ing them  to  market,  and  in  the  various  other 
occupations  incidentally  connected  with  the 
trade.  The  wealth  thus  ac([uired  leaves  all 
the  resources  of  the  country  untouched.  Dr. 
Franklin  cheered  tht;  fishermen  of  bis  day  with 
the  ajiotbegiii  that  whosoever  took  a  fish  out  of 
the  sea  always  found  a  piece  <d'  silver  in  bis 
i  mouth,  and  our  experience  has  confirmed  its 
truth,  althoutrh  it  is  now  rejected  by  the  com- 
mercial writers  of  Kngland. 
j  We  are  the  second  in  rank  among  conmier- 
'  eial  nations.  Our  superiority  over  so  niany 
I  results  from  our  greater  skill  in  shipbuilding, 
Wealth  does  nothing,  patronage  d(«sn..tbing.  and  our  greater  dexterity  in  navigation,  and 
while  vigor  does  evervtbing  fbr  the  whale  fish-  our  greater  frugality  at  sea.  1  hese  elements 
erv.  In  Great  Britain.  London  resigned  it  in  were  dcvelop<>d  in  the  fasheries,  and  especially 
favor  of  those  poor  an<l  obsolete  town*,  Hull.  '  in  the  Northern  fishery.  U  e  Uunk  that  we 
in  England,  and  Peterhead,  in  Scotland,  as  soon  i  are  inferior  to  no  nation  in  naval  warfare  '<" 
as  the  (Jovernment  bounties  ceased.  So  of  the  '  seamen  who  have 
eighty-five  vessels  which  in  I8f(j  represented 
New  York  in  the  fisiicrv.  only  one  went  up 
from  the  jiort  of  New  Vork.  the  conuuereial 
ca])ital  of  the  State  and  of  the  eimtinent.  while 
no  less  than  eight  proceeded  from  Cold  Spring.  ;  <uir  nautici._ 
a  mor.-  nook  in  the  mountains  which  crowd  j  pensate  us  for  the  loss  or  for  the  Ueclinc  ot  tfte- 
toward  each  other  just  above  the  city,  as  if  to  -  whale  fishery  I 


</ 


The 

won  our  brilliant  vict(»ries 
on  the  ocean  and  on  the  lakes  were  trained 
and  disciplined  in  this  the  severest  of  all  ma- 
rine service :  and  our  naval  historians  agree 
that  it  constituted  the  elementary  school  of  all 
il  science      What,  then,  would  com- 


.  ■^•T^A..,--.^ 


5 


Mr.  I'rowident,  1  have  tried  to  win  the  favor 
of  the  Sonatp  toward  tho  National  whtile 
fishery  f(ir  a  purjioso.  Tho  whalcH  have  found 
a  new  retreat  in  the  Seas  of  Oohotsk  and 
Anadir.  Houtii  of  Ilhcuinj^  Straits,  and  in  thiit 
riiu't  of  tho  Aii'tic  Oi-oun  lying  north  of  them. 
In  J 848,  Captain  Roy?,  in  tho  wlialo  ship  Su- 
perior, passed  thr(>ti^;li  those  nean  and  throiijih 
the  straits,  braving  the  iierils  of  an  unknown 
way  and  an  inhospitable  climate.  Ho  filled 
his  ship  in  a  few  weeks,  and  the  news  of  his 
8U(!ccsB  went  abroad.  In  I8-19.  a  fleet  of  154 
sail  wont  up  to  this  new  fishing  ground;  ii 
ISSO,  a  fleet  of  144:  and  in  IS.ll,  a  fleet  cf 
14.')  The  vessels  are  manned  with  30  persons 
eaeh  ;  and  their  value,  including  that  of  th; 
average  annual  cargoes  procured  there,  i^ 
e(iual  to  nine  rnillinns — and  thus  exceeds  by 
near  tw<i  millions  tlu^  highest  annual  impors 
from  China.  But  tlu'so  fleets  are  beset  by  noli 
only  such  dangers  of  thoir  calling  as  custom- 
arily occur  on  well-explored  fishing  grounds, 
but  also  by  tho  multiplied  dangers  of  ship- 
wreek  resulting  from  the  want  of  accurate  to- 
pographical knowledge — the  only  charts  of 
those  seas  being  imperfect  and  imsatisfactory. 
Whde  many  and  dcploralile  losses  were  sus- 
tained bv  the  fleets  of  l84!t-'50,  we  have  al- 
ready int(irmatir)n  of  the  loss  of  eleven  vessels, 
one-thirteenth  part  of  the  whole  fleet  of  IS.")!. 
many  of  which  disasters  might  have  been 
avoided  had  there  been  charts,  accurately  in- 
dicating the  shoals  and  headlands,  and  also 
places  of  sheltered  anchorage  near  them. 
These  facts  are  represented  to  us  by  the  mer- 
chants, ship-owners,  and  underwriters,  and  are 
confirmed  by  Lieutenant  Maur\-,  who  presides 
in  this  dejiartmont  of  science  in  the  navy  as 
well  as  in  tho  labors  and  studies  of  the  Na- 
tional Observatory.  We  want,  then,  not  boun- 
ties nor  protection,  nor  even  an  accurate  sur- 
vey, but  ^imply  an  exploration  and  reeonnois- 
eance  of  those  seas,  which  have  so  recently  be- 
come the  theatre  of  jtrofitable  adventure  and 
brave  achievement  of  our  whale  hunters.  This 
service  can  be  performed  by  officers  and  crews 
now  belonging  to  the  navy,  in  two  or  three  ves- 
sels which  already  belong  or  may  be  added  to  it. 
and  would  nontinue  at  most  only  throughout 
two  or  three  years.  Happily,  the  measure  in- 
volves nothing  new,  untried,  or  uncommcm. 
To  say  nothing  of  our  recent  search  for  the 
lamented  Sir  John  Franklin,  nor  of  our  great 
exploring  expedition  under  Captain  Wilkes, 
we  are  already  engaged  in  triangulating  a 
coast  survey  of  the  Atlantic  shore.  Charts, 
light-houses,  and  beacons,  show  the  pilot  his 
way,  not  over  that  ocean  and  among  its  islands. 
but  along  all  our  rivers  and  even  upon  our  in- 
land lakes.  The  absence  of  similar  guides  and 
beacons  in  the  wat(!ra  now  in  ((uestioii  results 
from  the  fact,  that  the  I'aeitic  coast  hivs  but  re- 
cently fallen  under  our  sway,  and  Bhering's 
Straits  and  the  i-e.is  they  connect  have  not  until 


now  been  frequently  navigated  by  the  seamen  of 
any  nation.  Certainly  somebody  must  do  thi» 
service.  But  who  will  ?  The  whalers  cannot. 
No  foreign  nation  will,  for  none  is  interested. 
Th((  (ionstitutional  power  and  responsibility 
rest  with  the  Federal  Government,  and  its 
meariH  are iilequato. 

California  is  near  this  fishing  ground.  Her 
enterprising  citizens  are  already  engaged  in 
this  pursuit,  and  henceforward  the  whale 
hunters  of  Nantucket  must  compete  with  new 
rivals  jKissessing  the  advantage  of  nearness  to 
the  scenes  of  their  labors.  California,  there- 
fiire,  joins  Massachusetts  in  this  reasonable  de- 
mand. 

Mr.  President,  the  small  exploring  fleet 
thus  proposed  would  be  oUiged  to  quit  the 
Northern  seas  early  in  September,  and  could 
not  return  to  them  until  the  succeeding  June. 
I  propose  that  it  should  spend  that  long  sea  on 
in  performing  ii  service  not  dissimilar  under 
milder  ski(w,  in  that  part  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
and  its  adjoining  seas,  which  is  usually  travers- 
ed by  vessels  sailing  from  New  York  and  San 
Francisco  to  China  and  the  Indies.  Remember, 
sir.  if  you  please,  that  not  only  has  no  Asiatic 
prince,  merchant,  or  navigator,  ever  explored 
this  one  of  all  the  oceans,  the  broadest  and 
most  crowded  and  rrowned  with  islands,  but 
that  they  have  forbidden  that  exploration  by 
European  navigators,  who  have  performed 
whatever  has  been  done  at  the  peril,  and  often 
at  the  cost  of,  imprisonment  and  death.  We 
have  made  no  accurate  survey,  for  we  have 
only  just  now  arrived  and  taken  our  ^utand  on 
the  Pacific  coast.  We  are  new  on  that  ocean — 
nay,  we  are  only  as  of  yesterday  upon  this  con- 
tinent; and  yet  maps  and  charts  are  as  neces- 
sary to  the  seaftxring  man  on  that  ocean  as  on  any 
other:  and  just  a-;  necessary  on  every  ocean  as 
monuments  ami  guides  are  to  him  who  trav- 
er.'^es  deserts  of  unimpre.saible  sand  or  wastes  of 
trackless  snow. 

Lieutenant  Maury  informs  us  that  every  nav- 
igat(/r  of  those  waters  is  painfully  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  surrounding  dangers — they  ex- 
ist, and  yet  the  only  charts  that  have  been 
made  fail  to  indicate  in  what  forms  or  in  what 
places  they  will  appear.  So  imperfect  is  our 
topographicnl  information,  that  a  large  island 
called  Ousima,  supposed  to  be  thickly  inhab 
ited  and  highly  cultivated,  lies  in  the  fair  way 
to  China,  and  yet  no  vessel  has  ever  touched 
or  gone  around  it.  It  would  repay  ten-fold  the 
cost  of  the  whole  exploration  if  we  should  find 
on  that  island  a  good  harbor  and  a  friendly 
people.*  Horsbergh's  charts  of  these  passages 
are  the  best.  But  these  are  of  old  dates,  and 
although  they  have  been  corrected  from  time 
to  time,  yet  they  are  very  imperfect.  The  shoals- 


^  Within  tho  last  year  the  Memnon,  nn  American 
ah'iy,  viiluud  with  her  oargo  at  $500,000.  wii."  lost  in 
the  ictraitu  ut'lluspcr. 


I 


6 

in  th«  China  He.i,  the  sou  of  Japan,  and  the  that  State  has  only  begun  The  Hettlomm.t  of 
strait.  ..f  (Jasper,  ar-  mpreH.nt.Ml  U)  nshy  nav-  t\w  Pac.fU-  .-oaHt  .»  m  a  stat,-  ..f  ^h^er  infancy 
iRaturH  as  l.nl'nj;  torn.o.l  -f  -oral,  a  mixture  of  Th.-ro  is,  spoukmK  K.at.yely  nmth.T  capital 
uni.nal  and  vKotaMo  or^ani/iitlon.  and  tl.oro-  nor  hO.or  thoro  ad...,mit^e  to  oxh. hit  th.  lorcoH 
fore  incroasinK  rapidlv  in  n.ap.itudo  ns  thcv  of  .ndnstry  that  n.itjht  ).«  .■mployod  n  that 
approach  near  to  the  ^nvla.o  ..f  th..  waters,  (t  wonderful  rc«.on.  N.,r  is  Caldorma  yet  .Mmve- 
is  partieularlv  ne.vs.ary  to  explore  and  note  mently  aeeessil.le  I  ho  railway  ae.oss  Panah.a 
the  shoals  and  islands  Ivin;;  between  the  eoast  m  not  yet  completed.  Ihe  |,„,.sap.  t^.rough 
of  Palawan  on  the  China  sea  and  that  of  Co-  Nicaragua  i.s  not  perh-a.  that  w.uch  leada 
chin  China  and  aln.  the  shoal,  in  the  vicinity  of    through  Tehuantepe,;  is  not  heguii  .  nor  have 

West  F,..ndi)n   I'riiu f  Wal-'s.  and  Panlo  Sa-     we  yet  ext-nd.  d,  even  so  tar  a.  to  the  Mi.^is- 

mta  islands  '  Tlie  perils  exi-tin-  there  ohli-e  sippi.  the  .uost  imiM.rtant  and  ne.essary  one  of 
Bhips  i;oinL'  np  and  e,..nin«down  throM^h  those  th..m  all  the  radroad  across  our  own  country 
Heas  amiinst  tl.' mnns,.„ns  f.  l.eat  at  di>advan.  to  San  h'anc.seo.  Ih.  ;'i..i«rant  to  he  At- 
taire  while  an  ..xnloration  would  pr-hahly  dis-  hint.c  coa>t  arrives  spe.-dily  and  .di.-aply  from 
ch«o  eddies  and  current.,  whi.-h  woul.l  alhw  whatever  .,uarter  .d  the  world  ;  while  he  who 
of  straiirht  courses  where  now  no  one  dare,  would  s.M-k  the  Pache  shore,  eiujo.mters  char- 
nursuethem.  Clements  Strait  and  the  Caramata  ges  and  delays  which  tew  can  sustaji,  Never- 
Passa.'e  are  tilled  with  the  >ame  ihinfccn.  theless-.  the  couimcn'ial,  social,  pi.litcal  move- 
Acraln'the  creat  outl-t  from  tie-  China  sea  into  ments  of  the  world  are  now  in  the  direction  ot 
the  Pacific  ocean  hv  the  15ah.!e.  and  adjacent  California.  Separated  as  it  is  from  us  by  tor- 
nassaues  between  the  islands  of  l.uconia  and  cign  lands,  or  im.re  impassable  iiiountaiiiH,  we 
thecoast.s  ..fChina  and  Formosa,  need  to  bo  sm-  are  establishing  there  a  custcau-houso.  a  niinl^ 
veved,  altboud.  the  islands  are  generally  well  a  dry  .lock,  Indian  ag.Micies,  ami  ordinary  an.l 
Sig  ated   ..n   the   maps.     Th.-n    pro.veding    extraordinary  tribunals   ot  justice.     Wi  h.Mit 

..rtLardlv.  a  r.^gar-l  to  the  saf.-ty  uf  the  waiting  for  perfect  ..r  safe  channels,  a  strong 
whaleman  "demands  that  the  islands  between  and  stea.ly  stream  of  emigration  .'I'^^s  tuther 
the  casts  of  China  and  Japan,  and  from  tlem     fnan  cv.>rv  Mate  and  ev.>ry  d.s  rut  eastward 

II  tb.  I.O..  Ch..o  island-,  an.l  so  ..n  t..  the  Uus-    o{  the  Rocky  Mountains.  _  Simdar  torrent,  o 

sian  p..ssessions.  and  along  them  eastwardly  to    emigratmn   are    pourmg    into  Cabf^.rnia    and 

Bhcrmg  Straits.  sh..nld  be  surveyed      The  last     Australia,  from    the   S.nith  Anjencan    Stat..H, 


attempt  to  prform  that  duty  wa^  made  by  a 
small  Uiissian  fleet,  which  was  .ajitur.jd  and 
destroyed,  while  it?*  otli.-ers  ami  crew  were  ini- 
prisone.l  by  tin'  J.vpanese.  Lastly,  as  we  a.l- 
vance  eastwar.lly  in  tb.'  v.'iy  tiack  pursued  by 
our  whali-vs  aiid  China  men.  w.'  en.'oiinti'r 
islands,  and  manv  shoals  imjierfi'ctly  dctimd, 
and  especially  the  !'..inin  islands;  while  pru- 
dence reiiuire's  a  .arffiil  ri'Conn.'i.s>ani('  al.-.i  of 
the  Fox  islands,  which,  although  lying  some- 
what northwardlyof  the  piLssage,  might,  if  well 
known.  atb>rd  ."belter  in  caso  of  inclom<-nt 
■weather.  This  re.'.mnoissan.e  in  a  ti'inperate 
latitude  is  d.'man.h.l  by  the  neTibants,  und"r- 
writors.  ami  navigator-,  in  all  our  .Atlavit.c   as 


from  Europe,  and  from  Asia.  This  movement 
is  not  a  sud.len.  or  acei.lental.  or  irregular,  or 
convul-ive  one  ;  but  it  is  one  for  which  men 
and  Nature  have  been  preparing  through  near 
four  hiimlred  vears  During  all  that  time  mer- 
chants anil  pr"inces  base  been  seeking  h.)Wthey 
could  reach  ch.'aply  an.l  .>xpi'diti.)usly, '•  Ca- 
thay." ••  China."  "the  Hast."  that  inter.'oiirse 
and  .•omi.ierce  might  be  established  b.-tw.vii 
its  aii.;iont  nations  ami  the  newer  on.>s  ot  th,; 
West  To  the..'  .ibje.'t..  Da  (iama.  (Jolumbus. 
Americu.s.  Cab.it.  IJu.lson.  and  .itln^r  naviga- 
tors, devoted  their  talents,  th.ir  lab.)rs.  and 
tb.'ir  lives.  Fven  the  disov.Ty  of  this  conti- 
nt  iTul  its   Man  Is.    and   the  organi/.ati.m  ot 


writer",  ami  nav.tiator-.  in  all  our  .\niuii.f   iis  .>■"••  -.•*  ■   -    -  r^     „..,,„i  ,,,..1 

Sus  in  .air  two  principal  Pa..ifi..  p.-rt..  and  so..iety  and  ^'--■-"^;'K  ''jll^f ■^^'^^ 

the  ar-uuient  f..r  i    r.>sts  on  the  sam-  founda-  ii.ip..rta.it  as  th.;se  ..^ent.  h,ue  '"     ..^'^  Z 

you  l..av«  tlii-  rarvej  a,..|  it,  l,cn..li»  t..  Knj.  m,in  ..von.  "' "1""' '  f  "'  „ m,''      '     m  L  f" 

i      ,f  •'  ev.T  .iccurred  upon  tlie  eai  til.     it   wiiiinjioi 

k  have  f..u  looked  recently  at  the  China  lowe.l  by  th,-  -l">^li-;tion  ,.f  the  -nd.t.ou  o^ 

trade?     It  reaches  alrea.ly  seven   millions    n  «"^'«^»y 'V"'^  ^'''' "'{i'^tr     !  n Iv  cZi  K  w^^ 

value  annually.     Have  y.,u  wat.  lied  tb.- Cab-  h.unan  family.     ^^^V"  :^«     '  '  ■"'j.,?',:  '.^„d  ^.l.t 

fornia  trade  '     Its  export  .,f  bullion  alone  al-  thi8  event  could  "''V'';;,*;  "i^^^^;  ^^^^^^ 

readv  exceod8  fifty  millions  of  dollars  annu-  it  has  come  now._  A  certain  '""^  "^  ^'''^J 
Illy  and  as  yet  the  mineral  dev.dopraent  of    freedom,  a  certain  amount  of  human  mtelli 


z 


:fince,  a  cortuin  pxtont  of  hi 


.     .  -  iJiiman  control  ovor 

ne  phy«i(!al  ohHtiiclen  to  hiicIi  a  rpiinion,  went 
neocHHary.  All  the  conditionn  havo  hiippcneil 
and  concurrod  Lifjcity  h:m  dnveloped  under 
improved  forms  <il  jjnvcrnnit'nt,  and  Moionco 
IniH Huhj('cted  Natiirf  in  Wwtcin  i;uiop<«  uiid  in 
Amoricii.     Niivij;ation,  iinpr<ivi>d  l>y  Kti-iini,  on- 

ubloN  men  to  mitMii-i[i  the  windn,  and"in(cl!ig(«nc,o 
(iunvcycd  'ly  oiwtiioity  cxci'Im  in  velocity  the 
li|j;lit.  With  lh(;Me  favoring  cireiiniMtaticnx  there 
hiiH  (loinc  almi  n  sudden  abundance  of  p.ld, 
that  larKoiy  rolieves  iiihor  from  ita  lonj;  nuI)- 
JBotion  to  reaii/.ed  ciipitiil.  Sir,  thin  niitvcincnt 
iH  no  delusion.  It  will  no  more  »top  tlmn  the 
eniigriition  from  Kuropo  id  i.ur  own  Athmti. 
uliores  luiH  stopped,  or  can  Mtop,  while  lalmr  Ib 
worth  there  twenty  cents  und  here  fifty  cents 
a  day.  Kniif^ratLm  from  China  cannot  stijp 
while  lahor  \h  worth  in  Cilif.rnia  five  dullars 
a  day,  and  in  the  West  Indie.s  ten  dollar.s  a 
month,  and  yet  is  worth  in  China  only  five  dol- 
lars for  that  {leriod.  Aceordingly.  'wo  have 
seen  Hixty-seven  ship-  filled,  in  thre'e  months  of 
the  prcHent  year,  with  17. ()()()  e;:ii(!;iants  in  the 
pertH  of  Hon;,'  Kon;r.  iMiieao,  and  Whampoa. 
and  afterwards  ilL-vhurgc  them  on  the  shores 
of  Caliliirnia.  and  of  Cuba  and  other  islands  of 
the  West  Indies. 

Sir.  have  you  considered  the  basis  of  this 
movement,  that  this  continent  and  Australia 
are  capable  of  sustainini;.  and  need  for  their  de- 
velopment, five  hundred  millions,  while  their 
population  is  confined  to  fifty  millions,  and  yet 
that  Asia  has  two  hmulred  millieus  of  e.xcesa .' 
As  for  tlio.se  who  di all >t  that  tlii.s  i;reat  move- 
ment will  ((iiii'ken  activity  and  create  wealth 
and  power  in  ('alifuiniu  and  Dregim,  1  leave 
them  to  consid'.T  what  changes  the  move- 
ments, similar  in  nature  but  inferior  in  force 
and  slower  in  elfect,  have  produced  alreadv 
on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  America.  As  to  tho.-e 
who  cannot  see  bow  this  movement  will  im- 
prove theconditien  nl' Asia,  |  leave  ibeni  lo  re- 
flect upon  till"  improvementjj  in  the  condition 
of  Europe  since  the  discovery  and  coloniv.atien 
of  America.  Wlui  docs  not  see,  then,  that 
every  year  hereafier,  European  commerce. 
European  jiobtics.  European  tboiigbis.  and 
European  activity,  although  actually  gaining 
greater  force — an<l  European  connections,  al- 
though actually  becoming  more  intimate — will 
neverthole.ss  relatively  sink  in  importance: 
while  the  Pacific  Ocean,  its  shores,  its  islands, 
und  the  vast  regions  beyond,  will  become  the 
chief  theatre  of  I'vents  in  the  World's  great 
Hereafter  ?  Who  does  not  see  tliat  this  move- 
ment must  (>tfect  our  own  complete  emancipa- 
tion from  what  remains  of  European  influence 
and  prejudice,  and  in  turn  develop  the  Ameri- 
can opinion  luid  inll.icnce  which  si  , ill  remould 
conrititutions,  laws,  and  customs,  in  the  land 
that  is  first  gre(>ted  by  the  rising  pun  .'  Sir, 
although  I  am  no  Socialist,  no  dreamer  of  a 
Huddenlycomingmlllennium.  I  neverthelees  can- 


not reject  the  horie  that  Peace  is  now  to  have 
her  Hway.  and  that  as  War  Iimh  hitherto  do- 
faced  and  saddened  the  Atlantic  world,  the 
hotter  pasMions  of  mankind  will  soon  have  their 
development  in  the  new  theatre  of  human 
activity. 

Commerce  is  the  groat  agent  of  this  move- 
oM-nt,     Wiiiitever  nation  nhall  put  that  com- 
merce into  full  employment,  and  shall  conduct 
it     teadily  with  udeipiate  expansion,  will  be- 
come neecHsarily  the  gri;atest  of  exiHting  States ; 
greater  than  any  that  has  ever  exiNted.     Sir, 
you  will  claim  that  responMibility  and  that  higll 
'lestiny  (or  our  own  country.     Are  yon  so  sure 
that  by  assuming  the  one  she  will  gain  the 
others     'I'bey  imnly  nothing  less  tha.T  univer- 
sal commerce  and  the  supremacy  of  the  seas. 
We  are  .second  to  Engl.md,  indeed,  but,  never- 
thelis-'.  how  far  are  v;e  not  bebuid  her  in  com- 
merce  and    in   t  stent  of  empir.'  !     I   pray  to 
know  where  you  will  go  that  you  will  not  meet 
the  Hag  of  E!i;:lan(l  fixed,  planted,  rooted  into 
tli(!  vi-ry  eiii-tb  .'     If  you  go  northward,  it  waves 
o\er  half  of  this  Continent  of  North  .\merica, 
which  we  call  our  own.     If  yon  go  southward' 
it  greets  you  on   the  Hermii'ilas.  the  Hahamas! 
and  the  Caribbeo   1-huids.     On    the    Falkland 
Island"  it  guards  tie  Straits  of  Magellan:  on 
the  South  Slu  tland  Island  it  watches  the  pas- 
sage round  the  Horn  :  and  at  Adelaide  Island 
it  warns  you  that  you   have  reached  the  Ant- 
arctic Circle.    When  you  you  ascend  along  the 
southwestern   coast  of  America,  it  is  seen   at 
Galopagos,  overlooking  the  Isilnnus  of  Panama; 
and  having  saluted  it  there,  and  at  Vancouver, 
you  only  take  leave  of  it  in  tlie  iiir  Northwe.st, 
when  you  are  entering  the   Arctic  Ocean.     If 
you  visit  Africa,  you  find   the  same  victorious 
cross  giianling  the  coast  of  (Jambia  and  Sier- 
ra Leoue  anil  St.  Helena.     It  watches  you  at 
Cape  Town  as  you  jiass  into  the  Indian  Ocean; 
while  on  the  northern  passage  to  that  vast  sea 
it  demands  vour  recognition  fr'iii   Gibraltar, 
as  you  enter  the  Mediterranean,  from  Malta, 
when  you  pass  through  the  Sicilian  Straits: 
on   the  Ionian  Islands  it  waves  in   jirolcction 
of  Turkey  :  ami  at  Aden  it  guards  the  pass.age 
fioni    the    Red    Sea   into   the    Indian    Oceim. 
Wherever  Western   commerce   has   gained  an 
entrance  to  the  Continent   of  Asia,  there  that 
Hag  is  seen  waving  ovr  siibjiigatedmillions— at 
Mombay,  at  Ceylon,  at  Singapore,  at  Calcutta, 
at   Lahore,  and  at   Hong   Kong:    while  Aus- 
tralia and  nearly  all  the  islands  of  Polynesia 
acknowledge  its  firotection. 

Sir.  i  need  not  tell  you  that  wherever  that 
Hag  waves,  it  is  supported  and  cheered  by  the 
martial  airs  of  England.  Hut  1  care  not  for 
that.  The  sword  is  not  the  most  winning  mes- 
senger that  ran  be  sent  abroad:  and  commerce, 
like  power,  upheld  by  armies  and  navies,  may 
in  time  be  found  to  cost  too  much.  Hut  what 
is  to  be  regarded  with  more  concern  !.«.  that 
England  employs  the  steam  engine  even  niore 


I-  HmttliSft'-:\lisClixiniH'tr:lim~intr'^'"--^~^-"'^- ' 


ifigoroualy  t^nd  more  unif«r«*lly  than  ber  mlli- 
Uuj  lorcti      Sl«i»m  engUiw,  punotualhr  depart- 
ing iu\d  iirrivinn  between  every  one  of  hor  varU 
oiia  p(Wm'HHi.mn  iirul  hor  i«'  tid  mint  of  jM»wor, 
bring  in  tiio  raw  material  i  .  otery  manufac- 
ture and  8U|>t)lie«  for  every  want.     Tiia  Hteam 
engine  plifw  inoo«Mintlj)r  tru>r.«,  .lay  and  nlglit, 
converting  these  mat^'nalK  into  fabruiB  ol  nvery 
Tarioty,  for  the  m««  of  roan      And  again  the 
Htflam  engine  forever  and  without  rert  moves 
over  the  face  of  the  deep,  not  only  diHtributing 
tliiwe  fabrics  to  every  juvrt  of  tlirt  globe^  but 
diwominating  alHO  the  thonglitrt.  tlie  principle*, 
the  language  and  rtdigino  of  Kngland.     Sir, 
we  are  bold  indeed  to  dare  conijHjlition  with 
•uoh  a  t'ower.     Nevertheln*,  the  reii')urije«  for  [ 
it  are  adequate.     VVo  have  coal  and  iron  no  j 
leMi  than  »hc,  while  corn,  timlwr,  cattle,  hemp,  , 
wool,  cotton.  Bilk,  oil,  ><iigar,  and  the  grape,  j 
quickmlver,  li'ad,  copper,  silver,  and  gold,  are  • 
all  found  within  our  own  broad  dt'maiu  in  in- 
cxhauHtible  profuHJon.    What  energii-s  we  ha\e  | 
already  expended  prove  that  wi  ii.iwi  in  re- 
aerve  all  that  are  needful      What  inveution«  ! 
wo  have  made  prove  oui  i-ipnility  to  any  cxi-  1 
gonoy.      Our  capital  incrcwoa,    while   labor  j 
Bcarcoly  knows  the  burthen  ot  taxation.     Our 
Panama  route  to  China  ban  a  decided  advan- 
tage over  that  of  the  lathmus  of  Sue/,,  and  at 
the  same  time  vcHhidft  leaving  that  country  and 
coming  round  the  Horn,  will  reach  New  York 
always  at  leant  five  days  Roimer  than  vo*«eli*  ot 
»qual  Hpend  can  doublo  the  CA\>n  of  Gorwi  Hope 
and  make  the  imi  of  Liverpool 


Mr.  PrMident,  we  tiow  wt  how  oooapiououi 
a  part  in  the  ipeat  mitVemtot  of  the  ugn,  Cali- 
fornia and  Oregon  aretoHustain.  and  that,  anvat, 
they  are  Heparated  from  U8  and  iMolated.    'Inay 
will  ailhore  to  on  only  ao  long  aiour  government 
over  thuni  thuU  be  eondui^ted.  not  for  our  ben«- 
fit,  but  for  their  own    Their  loyalty  Ih  great,  but 
it  cannot  exceed  that  of  the  thirteen  amuent 
American  oolnnion  to  Great  Britain  ;  and  yet 
tlie  neglect  and  opprorwion  of  their  commeroe 
undermined  that  loyalty,  and  resulted  in  their 
independence.     I  hear  often  of  danger*  to  tlie 
Union,  and  lee  lineH  of  threatened  ttep«ration 
drawn  Ity  paHxionate  men  or  alarmista.  on  par- 
allels of  latitude,  but,  in  my  judgment,  there 
is  only  one  danger  of  ricveranoe — and  that  is  in- 
volved in  the  (Kxwibility  of  oriminal  neglect  of 
the   new   oournunities   on    the    Fa'ufto   coast, 
while  the  Hunuuits  of  the  Kooky  Mountains,  or 
of  the  Snowy  Mountainn,  mark  the  only  possible 
line  of  di.'*n»ombernient.     Against  that  danger 
I  would  guard  an  against  tlic  wur^t  calamity 
that  could  befal,  not  only  my  country,  at  her 
mortt  auspicious  stage  of  progress,  but  mankind 
aU),  in  the  hour  ot  their  brightest  ho|)es.     I 
would  guard  against  it  by  nractising  impartial 
I  jiistioe  toward  the  new  and  remote   "♦•atea  and 
'  Territories,  whose  jM)litical  jKiwer  is  small,  while 
their  wants  are  great,   and  by  pursuing  at 
I  the  same  time,  with  lilierality  and  constancy, 
'  the  h)fty  course  which  they  iudicnti?.  of  an  as- 

C'     iring  yet  genorons  and  humane  national  ani- 
ition. 


r^-swcfc:, 


'^m. 


I 


«  how  oooiipiououi 
)t  of  the  ugn,  C»li- 
&in.  and  that.  MTOt, 
iiid  iw)lat«!tl  'losy 
;aiourguTernment 
111.  not  for  our  b«n». 
loynlty  ih  greut,  hut 
)«  ttiirtnen  amnent 
t  Britain  :  and  yet 
of  thuir  onuimerott 
[td  renulted  in  their 
LI  of  danger*  to  tlie 
eutoned  tteparation 
r  aluriaiHta.  ou  par- 
my  judgiiit*at,  tburo 
noc — and  that  in  in- 
orimitiul  neglect  of 
the  Ftt'iifto  ouoiit, 
ooky  MouDtaiup.  or 
irk  tho  only  pomible 
L gainst  that  danger 
tilt!  wornt  t'liUimty 
my  uoimtry,  at  her 
DgruHH,  but  mankind 
brightest  hopeii.     I 

Sractitiing  impartial 
remote  "♦•atM  and 
power  M  ttmall,  vhile 
nd  by  purBuing  at 
ility  and  constanoy, 
y  indicate,  of  an  an- 
iimano  national  am- 


1 

I 


